The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

186
The Quran 18: 36
perish, 36 or that the Last Hour will ever come – even if I were to be
taken back to my Lord, I would certainly find something even better
there.’ 37 His companion retorted, ‘Have you no faith in Him who
created you from dust, from a small drop of fluid, then shaped you
into a man? 38 But, for me, He is God, my Lord, and I will never set
up any partner with Him. 39 If only, when you entered your garden,
you had said, “This is God’s will. There is no power not [given] by
God.” Although you see I have less wealth and offspring than you,
40 my Lord may well give me something better than your garden, and
send thunderbolts on your garden from the sky, so that it becomes a
heap of barren dust; 41 or its water may sink so deep into the ground
that you will never be able to reach it again.’ 42 And so it was: his fruit
was completely destroyed, and there he was, wringing his hands over
what he had invested in it, as it drooped on its trellises, and saying, ‘I
wish I had not set up any partner to my Lord.’ 43 He had no forces to
help him other than God – he could not even help himself. 44 In that
situation, the only protection is that of God, the True God: He gives
the best rewards and the best outcome.
45 Tell them, too, what the life of this world is like: We send water
down from the skies and the earth’s vegetation absorbs it, but soon
the plants turn to dry stubble scattered about by the wind: God has
power over everything. 46 Wealth and children are the attractions of
this worldly life, but lasting good works have a better reward with
your Lord and give better grounds for hope. 47 One day We shall make
the mountains move, and you will see the earth as an open plain. We
shall gather all people together, leaving no one. 48 They will be lined
up before your Lord: ‘Now you have come to Us as We first created
you, although you claimed We had not made any such appointment
for you.’ 49 The record of their deeds will be laid open and you will
see the guilty, dismayed at what they contain, saying, ‘Woe to us!
What a record this is! It does not leave any deed, small or large,
unaccounted for!’ They will find everything they ever did laid in
front of them: your Lord will not be unjust to anyone.
50 We said to the angels, ‘Bow down before Adam,’ and they all
bowed down, but not Iblis: he was one of the jinn and he disobeyed
his Lord’s command. Are you [people] going to take him and his
offspring as your masters instead of Me, even though they are your
enemies? What a bad bargain for the evildoers! 51 I did not make
them witnesses to the creation of the heavens and earth, nor to their